Here is a picture of the bed that we enlarged to make room for the Iris and many other native plants. I hope it will be great.
Gardening with Texas Native Plants & Wildflowers Part 9
And the renovated bed by the bedroom window.
Looks great!
...and WHY do we want grass anyway? We just have to mow it, weed it, fertilize it, water it, then start all over again! I am for all beds with PATHS!
mel
Than you Mel, I hope they will be beautiful this Spring.
Mel - I am working on a grass free lawn.. ... .. it takes a lot of time to get started but I am 1/3 there in the back and 1/4 there in the ft... soo one of these days!
If you guys run out of places to dig up grass and plant natives, etc, come my way! LOL! I have a lot of yard to mow right now, and grass free lawn is sounding better and better.
After looking at Mel's backyard with all the beautiful plantings, paths and waterfalls, I can't wait until I retire to have more time to play!
Sheila
Mitch, what are you planting for your grass free lawn, some type of ground cover?
Will it be O.K. to walk on? I mean will it get damaged if you walk on it.
Josephine.
Sheila, good to hear from you, we will have to get together some time.
Josephine.
Josephine.. it will have paths and beds and no lawn... Chi will have the Light Co's land on the side he can play and pratice in and there will be a goal set up in back but without grass... I working on it building one bed on and around the other mixing plants and keeping styles together. I started with planting trees in a criss cross natural patern and then I keep pushing the beds a little more. Two years and getting close - I have a 5 year plan to cover the back yard and then two more years for the ft yard, so I have a 7 year plan for the yard if I can keep up!
Well, it looks like you have a very ambitious plan, and I am sure that you will accomplish it, even if it is a little bit at a time, you can do it.
I can't wait to come and see what you have already accomplished.
Josephine.
I hope you like it when you head this way! I should be out there now - working on my master plan.. ... ... I have frostweed to get planted!
Plan????.....Oh that is what I am missing! LOL!
Go up three and read the one I sent right before that one - I have a five year plan to work out the yard.
Good for you Mitch, glad you have a vision and plan for what you want to achieve.
Me.....I have NO plan ...that is my problem. I spend more time redoing when things don't work where they are, that if I was to get a PLAN and stick with it. LOL!
Sheila
Sheila, I have seen some of your pictures and it all looks really nice, you know, we all do what we can as we are able, but if you want to accomplish something, you will.
Just give yourself some time.
Josephine.
Here is one more picture from Veterans Park, it is amazing how beautiful it looks.
Josephine.
Last Sunday we harvested some of our compost, and what a joy it was.
The pile is about 6 x 10 and we harvested half of it.
We got 9 bags of sifted compost, I feel rich.
The pile.
Playing with my black gold.
Proudly showing off the harvest. I fell so lucky!
Josephine, If I'm ever up in your area and you find that your compost bin looks a "little" empty.......DON'T call me...I won't know anything !!!!
;o)
Oh, The chives that you gave me at the RU in Kerrville have taken off as seen here. I planted them that Monday evening.
Kip
Well, it looks like I'll be harvesting some Gold Star Esperanza seeds soon. This is the longest pod at 6".
Josephine! Wow! Your black gold is PRICELESS!!!!! I know how valuable that is! Congrats! Your plants will be VERY happy!
If you have too much, and need a new home for any of it.... Put me on the list! I'll take as much as you have to give away.....LOL!!!!!
Melanie
This is incredible! Yesterday Frank and I finished harvesting the rest of the large bin and we got 22 more bags full, for a total of 31 bags at 25 pounds each, that comes to a total of 775 pounds of sifted compost.
We have never had so much at one time. I plan to wait till closer to Spring to start using it. We feel very sore, it was a lot of work, I estimate it took us 8 hours total to complete the job, but we also feel very blessed.
This compost came from a neighbour's live oak tree that they cut and had it shredded.
We bought the shredded tree from the guy that did the cutting for $10, he dumped it on our driveway, and we had to carry it to the bin in the backyard.
It took a year and a half to compost, there still are some wood chips, which we put back in. We did not turn the pile, just let it sit for that lengh ot time.
I wish I could say that I will give some to everybody, but at this point I am very attached to it, and also i don't know how much I will be able to use.
We shall see as times goes on.
Josephine.
Kipper2, those chives look great, they sure came up fast.
The Esperanza looks lush and beautiful, do you have it indoors?
The ones around here have dropped their leaves already.
Please, be sure to stop by when you come this way.
Josephine.
Josephine, the Esperanza is in a 12" pot outside with mostly sun. I try not to do anything to it and let Mother Nature and Native Texas take control. I find that is the easy way. :o)~
Krispi, Canyon Lake, Tx. zone 9b, Nov. 28,2005, 10:52 AM, Josephine, I am new to DG, just now getting a chance to look thru the sites. Does your Golden Esp. have (what colored flowers), I have never heard of any but yellow & orange? Krispi
Hello Krispi, welcome to DG and gardening with native plants and wildflowers.
Are you a native plant gardener?
I have naver seen any other color of Esperanza than yellow and orange yellow, but aren't they beautiful?
Josephine
Mine is a good ol' yellow one. Sorry but did not get an image of the blooms this summer. :o(
Josephine,
I plan on adding a lot of native plants to my yard. Do you build your beds any special way, or just clear the area, till and throw out seed? I'm going for the easiest way since I have a lot of back strain though I'm really not allergic to work . :o). I do have a tiller so will put that to good use soon. My *correct* placement of plants has been zero. Seems I never put them in that perfect spot and am at the present time going to dig up the front yard with a backhoe and start over. Any specific recommendations you might have will be sincerely appreciated.
Thanks so much!
carol
Dear Flowerette, Oh Wow! starting all over! what a wonderful opportunity.
There is so much I could say, that I don't know where to begin.
I built my beds the hard way, because my soil was really bad, but it might be different for you.
To start with, you might take a look at my website, www.texasstar.org
and ckeck out the plants and what their requirements are.
Also on the website there is the Native plant Search engine, there you can see the plants by category and by color to help you with your plant selection.
The search engine is linked to Dave's plant files to help with more information and pictures.
Check it all out and let me know what your plans are, I would love to help you as much as possible with plants and or seed as well as a sugestions on what might work out best.
I am very excited to hear about your project, please let me know what you think might doable after you check the site.
Sincerely, Josephine.
josephine
I think I got a gulf coast penstemon or a brazos penstemon which I think are the same, from you in Texoma. I picked up about 10 more yesterday. Before I plant them I need to know if you have greater success with them in full sun or afternoon sun, or what?
James H
Frostweed,
What a beautiful website you have! I do have a number of natives and enjoy particularly the ones that attract butterflies, and of course birds. DH just doesn't understand why I constantly move anything green to a different location. I'll be moving all the shrubs to the rear of the house and planting low-growing, hopefully colorful, plants in the front. A grass lawn is such a waste of space when it could be solid natives.
Thanks again.
carol
Hello James, good to hear from you.
Yes, Brazos and Gulf Penstemon are the same plant, Penstemon tenuis,that is why it is a good thing that we have scientific names, although somtimes even those don't agree, so it can be very confusing.
I have mine both in full sun and part shade, and they do equally well, although I don't think they will do well in full shade.
You could try a few different spots, and see what works best for you, they are very reliable and make a lot of seed.
I hope they will be beautiful for you in the Spring.
Oh, by the way, that Pineapple Salvia is still blooming, such a beautiful bright red.
Josephine.
Hello Carol, If I understand you correctly you plan to remove the shrubs from the front yard and move them to the back.
Are you talking about your foundation shrubs? or just shrubs scattered around the front yard.
If you are removing the foundation shrubs, what do you plan to put in their place?
And if you are tilling the whole front yard, what do you plan to do for soil inprovemnt?
This may be a lot of questions, but I am trying to get an idea of the look you are trying to accomplish.
It looks like you are about to undertake a very ambitious plan, and I commend you for it, but remember that it takes a lot of plants to fill a whole front yard. Of course I don't know how big your front yard is, may be I should have asked that first.
In any event ,it might be easier for you if you do it in stages, that way the job wouldn't be so overwhelming.
One of our friends 75154( Mitch ) is doing his yard in stages like that with no grass, and Txmel (Melanie ) has her entire back yard with no grass too, she has a beautiful pond with water falls and flower beds all over.
Once we know, then we could make some suggestions about soil inprovement and plant choices that would best suit you purpose and capability.
I will be very happy to help with seeds and whatever else I can, I don't know if plants would be feasible since you live quite a distance from here, but not impossible.
I am very excited to hear about your plans.
Sincerely, Josephine.
Thank you, Josephine.
My front yard is 50'X150'. My main problem will be to add the compost. Have a bin but haven't worked on it for quite some time. May have to order a good gardening soil.
I will be moving crape myrtle (3), esperanza, (2) and some foundation shrubs of which I can't recall their name. They resemble a boxwood, but seem like they are some type of holly. There are approximately 25 of those, and seem to be at their maximum height of about 2-1/2 ft. There are also nandinas that are about 2-1/2 ft. tall. I intend on leaving those in place and cutting them back to a much lower height and use as a ground cover. Hopefully, everything will live if I move everything maybe in January. A month ago, I moved a bottlebrush that was quite healthy, and it doesn't look like it is going to make it as the leaves are all turning brown. Maybe it was still a little too warm to have transplanted it. I'm not going to put everything in a prepared bed, so if the little guys don't make it, so be it. I just want it removed because it looks like a jungle in the front yard. I don't like a conformed or a jungle look. I prefer and would really like a cottage gardening effect where you can use any and all types of plants. Hey, I've never m-e-t a plant I didn't like. :) I'm always open to anything that has a chance in clay soil. Wax myrtles do not mind it at all. Although they are not gorgeous plants, the birds just love them, and I have about five of those in the backyard and one huge one in the front which will remain where they are. Well, maybe not ---- I have a bad history of moving everything around. I'm always open to any and all recommendations. Thank you for your note.
carol
Carol, do you like Turk's Cap, Malvaviscus drummondii, and Flame Acanthus, Anisacanthus wrightii?
Those ar two great shrubs with red flowers that bloom all Summer and attract hummingbirds like cazy, also they are very hardy and you can keep them pruned to any highth you like and the heat doesn't bother them.
Four O'clocks are also very reliable and have a wonderful scent, and Autumn Sage, Salvia greggii, is wonderful, also blooms all summer and can take the heat.
Also Lantana is a great plant for Texas, it can take the heat and drought, and blooms continously.
It looks like you already have some good plants to start with. I guess with the Nandina you must be referring to the dwarf kind, in order to keep it that low.
Let us know how it all comes along and what plants you decided to put in.
We will all be excited to see the improovements you have made.
Josephine.
In defense of the wax myrtles, :-), you can still get some sun under them, they are evergreen, and as you said, the birds love them (they are great cover for birds, plus birds like the berries in the winter.) I personally love them, was so glad I got to plant a couple in my backyard when the pines were taken out.
:-)
Fall has done some pretty things to my gaden, heres is the Fig tree in it's golden splendor.
Josephine,
I have never tried the Turk's Cap but have heard of it, and that sounds like a great suggestion, so I'll do some reading on it. I have attempted lantana which I love, but so did the Gardenville spider mites. :) I do have the 4-o-clocks (didn't realize they have a fragrance) mixed with wandering verbena. The verbena climbing the 4-o'clocks makes an interesting effect and makes the verbena more showy.
I may have to switch to the backyard for new plantings in case I have a disaster with all the digging and just leave ground covers in the front. I will search out Melanie's yard when I have a chance and maybe she has some pictures and Mitch as well.
Hey Maggiemoo,
Glad to hear someone else likes the wax myrtles, too. I thought they were great cover for the smaller birds until one day I saw a hawk swoop down into the myrtle after the smaller birds, and I dashed out the front clapping my hands and straight out the other side he went without a meal in his beak. I am serious in that he had a wingspan of at least three feet. How he made it through that myrtle is beyond me. I have never seen anything like it! I had attracted many birds with the myrtles and since the hawk has been here, they have all disappeared. I would like to call the game preserve and see if they would like to come and collect a few unwanted hawks. The American finches should be arriving soon which would be a disaster for them.
Carol, we have had problems with hawks too. Sometimes they come through so fast you hardly have time to see them, but they always catch a bird in midair.
One of them ran into out patio glass door once, and knocked himself unconcious, it laid there on the patio on his back, with the wings and tail widespread for about 15 minutes, then it woke up and flew away.
That is the only time that I have seen a hawk up close, they have beautiful plumage, and I was amazed at how beautiful they are.
I don't know where the picture is, ithink is is from our non digital camera.
Josephine.